Tricky test for school leaders

Arne Duncan has to prove to the boss at City Hall that he fully has grown into his job as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.

Deborah Lynch has to prove to members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) that they were right to dump her predecessor and make her president.

And a third player, key business adviser David Vitale, needs to prove he can be both mentor and manager despite a string of professional setbacks.

Can a triangle of leaders with such varied motivations perpetuate a crucial labor peace at the city's schools? That's the question as negotiations on a new pact between the school system and the 33,000-member CTU enter the make-or-break stage.

So far, leavened by low-key personalities on both sides, things seem to be proceeding relatively well in the first formal contract talks between Mr. Duncan and Ms. Lynch. With former banking executive Mr. Vitale acting as a behind-the-scenes coach to Mr. Duncan, the parties at least have agreed to keep talking without a strike when 440,000 city kids head back to school next week.

But weighty financial issues with the potential to magnify differences are unresolved, including salary, length of the contract and health care coverage. And Mr. Duncan reportedly is not making progress on removing incompetent and burned-out teachers from the classroom.

"The good old boys are gone. The new folks have to find a way to work together," says schools activist John Ayers, comparing the new crew to former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) executives Paul Vallas and Gery Chico and former union President Tom Reece, all of whom left within a couple of months of each other in mid-2001.

If the city's schools are to continue to improve, "it's very important that a multiyear agreement is struck," adds Mr. Ayers, executive director of Leadership for Quality Education, a business-backed reform group.

'They're both amicable'In two years of preliminary sparring, both Mr. Duncan, an educator by background, and Ms. Lynch, a teacher who never before held a major union office, have shown an ability to clearly make points without burning bridges or engaging in the theatrics of the Vallas era.

For instance, on the volatile issue of what to do with failing schools, Mr. Duncan took a steely stance last year when he ordered three schools closed, forcing their staffs to reapply for jobs at other schools. Anti-union hard-liners loved it.

But then, rather than shut several other schools, he agreed with Ms. Lynch's request to work with the union to repair them. That played well with CTU members.